My personal view is that there are probably many people with apparently severe autism who could learn to type in this way. The difficulty is finding methods to teach literacy or finding a way to shut off compulsions which seem to get in the way of everything.

On her blog Carly says “I think people get a lot of their information from so-called experts but I think what happens is that experts can’t give an explanation to certain questions. How can you explain something you have not lived or if you don’t know what it’s like to have it? If a horse is sick, you don’t ask a fish what’s wrong with the horse. You go right to the horse’s mouth.” She makes a good point. The reality is that this particular group – those who are apparently severely autistic and who are non-verbal – remain almost unstudied. Research is almost entirely carried out on those who are apparently higher functioning. Very little is known about the non-verbal group at all and many of the comments made by those in this group who do have a voice (such as Lucy, and Tito and Carly) has been ignored. If you look at the writings of all those with non-verbal autism they share a lot of similarities – in particular describing difficulties in movement and in controlling movement. Yet it is rare that this is taken into account when considering behaviours or teaching methods.

When I first read Lucy Blackman’s book I felt I was at last able to find out – from the horses mouth- a little of what it is like to live in my son’s world. It did change the way I responded to him, and it did alter my interpretation of his behaviours. It’s a book I re-read every now and then (along with Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone (Qualitative Studies in Psychology) to remind myself of the view from his world.

If you haven’t already do watch the videos on Carly’s website. They provide a fascinating insight into non-verbal autism.